Unclear
by A Profile Name
Summary: It has always been thought that at the beginning of the universe, evil and good were inherent. There was always dark and light. Perhaps heaven and hell. In this fashion, the pattern of opposites can be said to rule over the world. However, what if there were something to dilute this belief? Something in the middle, neither this, nor that? Something, or someone rather unclear.
1. Prologue

**Ok, ok, so... It's me. The Whole Horse (Well, that's my name for now, at the moment.) I suppose this is the rewriting of the story that I put on hiatus after only one chapter, Clockwork. It's probably under a different name at the time of posting, though.**

 **Sorry for the sometimes hard words and walls of text. I was just trying to be as descriptive and thorough as possible.**

 **If people want me to write less fancy, just say.**

 **WARNING: THIS FIRST CHAPTER HAS ABSOLUTELY 0 DATE A LIVE CONTENT. IF YOU DON'T WANT TO READ A STORY THAT DOESN'T IMMEDIATELY START OFF IN THE DATE A LIVE UNIVERSE, DO NOT READ!**

 **Also, I don't own Date a Live or any of its' characters.**

 **Now, without further ado...**

* * *

 **Chapter 1**

 **A Prologue**

* * *

A lofty current wafted about the classroom, provoking a few students to shudder a bit as chills ran up their backs. It was the familiar sensation of one feeling goosebumps on their skin. All of the students were sitting down at their respective desks in chairs listlessly, as they waited for their teacher to arrive and dismiss the class. After all, nobody dared leave school early without waiting for attendance to be called. To each person there, it was a simple unspoken rule, especially in such a prestigious private institution like Nise High. Even missing one session could practically destroy your chances of receiving holiday spending money or gifts, and teachers began to treat said unscrupulous student in kind for their vile behaviour.

In short, don't miss attendance.

One of these students in particular, a young boy named Shinji (or so it was written on the plaque attached to his desk) sat at his desk even more anxious and antsy than the rest of the other students. The reason for this was a simple piece of white paper, a test sheet, which rested on his desk, the bottom half obscured by his arms laying on it to prevent the aforementioned breeze from whisking it away. On the part which could be seen, there was one feature in particular which stood out, and it was this part that worried the boy. A large 40 which was written with a bold red marker at the top edge of the paper, circled with an ever darker red ink to draw attention to the poor grade.

This, in and of itself was an issue, but the main problem was not with the low grade, something which he could easily rectify by simply studying more in the future, as with most academic problems, but the number. He preferred for people to not see him as a superstitious type of person, but having 4 by itself… It was as if bad luck itself was sprawled over his paper.

His wandering train of thought, however, was quickly interrupted by the long-awaited teacher entering the classroom quite hastily, bowing a little profusely as she uttered words of apology to the students for being so late. Everyone in the class simply dismissed her apology and greeted her in unison, as per the usual cycle. Shinji always found it interesting how meek and demure she could be, even if she had the most power in the classroom, only second to the student council president and class representatives. Miss Suzu. A foreign teacher who'd come to Japan as part of an exchange program. Nobody really knew how to say her full English name, so many students and teachers simply called her Midori, because of her dark green highlights at the ends of her otherwise completely black hair.

After the monotonous greeting from the class, the woman opened her attendance book swiftly, and began role call as expected. Shinji found himself distracted as she slowly went through the other 26 students. Rather than alphabetical order, role call was sorted through the position of chairs, starting from right to left, back to front. This is why Shinji always came last, due to him sitting in the front, to the direct left. His eyes veered outside of the window, as he watched the evening sun slowly fall below the horizon, giving out a splendorous view of oranges, yellows, and reds. Nature's perfect colour palette for the sky.

"Shinji Takehiko?" A soft, yet discernible voice called out with what could perhaps be called a drawl.

The boy was brought back to reality, and responded rather flatly, though making sure he didn't have anything that could be mistaken for rudeness in his tone.

"Here."

The woman went to scribbling his name down, herself in the blank spot for student number 27, and adding her signature along with a check-mark. This was all done to prevent forgeries, of course, as it was impossible to replicate both handwriting and a signature, along with the exact check-mark most teachers performed without some sort of extensive plan on the fugitive's side, which the schoolboard figured no student would be that adamant about.

After this, she stowed away the folder into her bag and checked her watch, until the ringing of the bell could clearly be heard in the halls. No student moved, however, as the teacher's word, as usual, was absolute.

"Alright class, you are dismissed. Have a good day." The woman said quickly, bowing before she took her leave. However, there was a small notice posted on the board. The two names of the people who were to stay behind and clean the classroom. Taki and Hakurei, huh? Not surprising.

The classroom was empty and devoid of students within the hour, except for three students, Shinji, Taki, and Hakurei. Shinji was still sitting at his desk, mulling over the test sheet worriedly. He couldn't let go of the number. For some reason, he felt entranced as he stared at the paper. Something was going to go wrong today. He knew it. It was like he could almost feel the universe closing in on him, and that darkness itself was crawling over his ba-

"Oi, Shinji. Snap outta it. You've got that shadow over your face again." A masculine voice sounded from behind him, as he felt a hand lay on his shoulder.

Right…

"Hey, at least help us out if you're gonna be in here." It was obviously Taki, who, unlike Hakurei, had taken a break to stop sweeping after seeing Shinji's… condition arise again.

"Yeah, sure." He responded rather curtly and stood up, turning to face the boy who had a second broom in his hand. He deftly caught the broom that was thrown to him with a smirk.

"Nice reflexes."

"Yeah."

* * *

Shinji waved to the two as he made his way down the hall with his bag slung over his shoulder, before turning to completely face forward. Of course, they had to go and return the cleaning supplies and equipment they had used to the janitorial closet and lock up the class afterwards, so most likely, they would be there for a little while longer.

A stray ray of white moonlight pierced through the hall windows while Shinji walked, giving the usually crowded and loud hallway a rather ambient, comfortable atmosphere. It served to extricate him from his fears from a while, giving him and his mind some much needed space to think. After he turned a corner, he couldn't hear the duo's footsteps anymore, only left in silence and mild darkness with the sounds of his own breathing and singular steps. He came upon a staircase, which he quickly descended, hearing the tapping of his shoes clinking against the steps while he rushed down. He hoped only to get home quickly and safely. When he reached the bottom of the steps, he found it hard to resist jumping back a little in surprise at the sudden sight in front of him, but he did, somehow.

There stood a girl with a metal tray of pastries in her hands, leaning against the wall with a dejected expression on her face. Obviously she was from his school, seeing as she was wearing the uniform, and had even decided to let her student ID rest below her neck hooked on a lanyard.

Ne Osaka.

What a nice name, he thought. But more importantly…

"Ah, excuse me…" He began, looking at the girl. Though it was hard to see directly into her face because of the darkness, and her naturally black bangs which slightly nestled over her face.

She immediately straightened up, smiling as she turned to him, and without a word, silently offered him the tray. It seems like the pastries had actually turned out to be cookies of various types, some with fillings and jams and toppings, too many various to count!

So, the cookies, huh? Sure, why not?

He took one, stopping his sentence midway as he bit into it, eyes closed as he processed the flavor. It had something of a grainy texture, which he immediately recognised as oatmeal, probably with some sort of filler like honey or milk used to add to its taste. There were also some raisins which exploded into flavor in his mouth like packets, bringing a small smile to his face.

"Delicious." He said simply, giving her a small thumbs up. He had problems expressing himself sometimes, so he was just blunt about what he said.

She smiled widely, and from there on, they began a conversation…

* * *

"I'll see you tomorrow, definitely." Shinji waved to the girl with a small smile, as she beamed right back at him before walking up the front steps to her home. It seemed she had a key, because the girl walked right in without a problem and locked it behind her. Either that, or the family trusted her enough that they would leave the door open for her when she returned home.

The boy turned away and began down the lonely city road, towards his home which was actually not too far down the road, to his utter surprise and shock. Of course, he was sure that his parents had locked the door, as they explicitly said that he absolutely had to be home at a certain time, or he was on his own. The small little detour he had to take to walk the "cookie girl" as he had dubbed her, home, was more than significant in causing his late arrival. But it was fine. He didn't mind it at all. It was something to get his mind off of his little paranoia moments…

He arrived at the front gate not so long after his little trip, and surprise surprise, both the gate and the door were locked and bolted shut. He sighed as he took his phone from his pocket, the small light that emanated from the screen illuminating the area around him, and shining into his eyes. He dialled a random number in his contacts, waiting for the other person on the end to pick up.

"Hello…" The almost apathetic, yet quite lax voice of his sister echoed throughout the receiver as she picked up her phone and answered. Not surprisingly, Shinji had probably just woke her up from what she considered the best thing about life – sleep.

"I'm out here. Could you let me in?" Shinji asked quite calmly, as he stared forward at the gate. Though he had to admit, he got that distinct feeling that someone was watching him that most people standing out in a dark street at night seemed to get, even if he was around in a quiet neighbourhood where if anything did happen, his screams could probably be hear-

Damn it. Why was he thinking of these bad sorts of situations again? He really needed to stop.

"Sure. I'll be your scapegoat so you don't have to worry about incurring the wrath of mom and dad." She responded sarcastically, before hanging up.

The boy sighed in response and shoved the device into his pocket, tapping his foot on the asphalt road while he waited. This time, silence and darkness weren't his only compatriots, as the sound of crickets letting out noise and cicadas' nonstop buzzing all saturated the background.

The flickering of a light switch was heard, and Shinji looked forward as the front lamp light turned on, and the doorknob rustled ever so slightly before giving way as the door opened, and the short figure of a girl shambled out. It was no other than his sister, Ini, of course. She said nothing as she proceeded forward and unlocked the metal gate, swinging it open to let him in and then bolting it as soon as he went inside. The same went for the front door.

He discarded his shoes at the entrance, flicking off the lamp's lightswitch himself as he walked ahead to make his way to his room. Ini already had the same idea long before him, and was halfway up the spiral staircase that led up to where their rooms were situated. Shinji followed up not too long after with a small sigh while he walked past the random doors to the door opposite his sister's own which laid in the middle of the hallway. He found his sister hesitating to enter before she turned and saw him. Without much context, she approached him and hugged him. It was something she always did, regardless of her age, partly for safety, and also because she knew he would always reciprocate, which he did, gladly.

"Night." She mumbled under her voice, before breaking the hug and exiting his embrace, and leaving to return to her room.

"Night." He returned, as he parted from her in kind, and entered his room.

In this way, there was a sense of finality in the pleasantries shared between them before they each left their respective spaces, whether they realised it or not.

* * *

Shinji didn't immediately feel as if sleep was something he wanted that night, indicated by him just laying in his bed and staring up at the ceiling above him, watching the monotonous rotation of his fan happen like clockwork.

His room was rather plain, with the usual things a highschool student would need for his or her school life. A desk for which he had a small desktop computer sitting, that provided not just entertainment, but also a place to work or just to, well, sit.

There was also a shelf for which he put books and other forms of literature that he found interesting, thanks to his love for reading. Though, he felt as if this thirst for knowledge could sometimes be damaging to him, without a doubt. Maybe it was partly why he developed his 'condition'? He was left at odds and ends when it came to that.

Something was wrong, though. That wasn't in the sense that he felt imminent danger, no. The moon was still calmly sitting out in the horizon in plain view, and Shinji could easily sit up and walk outside onto his balcony and look for himself. Everything was way too peaceful and quiet for his liking, like it always was. Maybe a glass of cool water or warm milk would serve to soothe him a bit? With this in mind, he sat up, rubbing his beady eyes as he opened his door and stared off into a complete void.

* * *

He immediately stepped back and closed the door to step back into his room. That was when he found that there was no room. And there was no door, apparently.

In the span of him getting up and opening the door, something had gone wrong. Horribly wrong. And now, Shinji was sinking into absolute darkness. It was as if he had his eyes forcefully shut, except they were open. There was nothing he could see, he couldn't see his own limbs, his own stomach, nor look up. Actually, there seemed to be no sense of direction! He couldn't feel, and there was no sense of orientation. He couldn't say if he was falling, or just laying on a flat surface! It was all wrong, so, so wrong.

He attempted to scream out, and he couldn't even tell if he was. He didn't know if his mouth was open, and if it was, then no sound travelled in the eternal darkness that now coated every inch of his senses, and what was him. He didn't know what was happening or how it happened, and he didn't pretend to.

However, there was an impossibility at play. While his lungs began screaming out for air, and his mind slowly shut down, he saw the image of something… Something constant, but irregular in its entire existence. Images and memories flooded his mind, and only then, could he hear the dimension shattering scream he was letting out, as his pupils forced themselves back into his head, and his body violently shook, before letting go…


	2. A Journey Through Nothingness

**Uh, so I guess this space is reserved for prefaces to the chapter. Once again, we don't have any Date A Live content, except for a small section at the end, so, once again, you may want to steer clear of this if you don't care for anything not immediately centred and based in the DAL universe. The main protagonist is also an Original Character rather than Shido, so, yeah, another warning for anyone who wants to step out now.**

 **This was actually supposed to get here on Christmas day, so, sorry about that as well.**

 **Also, I'm continuing this immediately after the anime. I don't plan to add any characters or plot from the LN (Light Novels), because I'm writing this story on my own, and I'd rather not have to read every volume and process it just for the story. That's it for now. Enjoy! (Well, I'm hoping that you enjoy, that is.)**

* * *

 **Chapter 2**

 **A Journey Through Nothingness**

* * *

He was alone.

By himself, with nobody, and nothing else, inside of the infinite void surrounding him.

The boy couldn't rely on his senses. They did nothing. It was a miracle in and of itself that he was somehow able to tell he was conscious. Did different states of consciousness even matter in a place where time itself likely meant nothing? In knowing that, it was pointless to ask a question such as "Where am I?"

He brought his memories to mind.

Barely, he recalled what he was doing before being pulled into the void. Vaguely, he remembered a conversation and consequent walk with a girl who had… cookies? Thoughts racing a mile a minute, he came across the image of his sister. Her almost lifeless, downcast gaze, and monotone voice… Despite all of this, he still felt uneasy. All of these recent memories should've felt like nothing, but they felt much too vague.

Clouds hovered over some of his thoughts. As if an invisible shadow was being cast over his mind.

Temporarily, the boy gave up on remembering anything, and wondered for the hundredth time if he could move. This useless thought was immediately blown aside, as it always was after the first attempt. He innerly chided himself a little bit for attempting such a fruitless endeavour. Everything, after all, was gone.

Silence reigned once more, until Shinji turned to another elusive subject – the words he'd heard before being forced into the void.

'Knowledge is your worst enemy.'

What a counterproductive thought. One would have to have knowledge of such a thing to avoid it in the first place. Perhaps, then, this was why the boy was put into this place. To stop him from learning something. Indeed, in a hell such as this one, anyone faced with such circumstances would learn nothing. Letting his mind run wild, he figured that maybe one day, he would cease even thinking, the only thing that let him know he was here.

As much as he would've loved to think there was an easy way out such as that, he had long ago determined he wouldn't allow such a thing to happen.

Once again, he tried to distract himself with thought. Ironically, however, this attempt to cheer himself up through some more assessment resulted only in him learning one disturbing fact, that not even he could keep hidden from himself anymore.

His mind blanked out. To protect him from himself, he had done it, purposefully.

At that moment, more than ever in the young boy's life, he was alone.

* * *

An uncountable amount of time passed since Shinji had faced the truth of his solitude. Attempting to calm himself, Shinji had taken to once more diving through a large chunk of his memories while "travelling" through the void. He had no way of knowing if he was moving, but didn't find it very important.

It seemed as if another trip down memory lane was due, as Shinji felt his grip on his memories loosen a little. Quickly, he searched his memories, salvaging two which served as a central point for him. A girl with… cookies… right? No, he remembered them to be pastries. Or was it just plain old sausages? Yeah, that sounded right. Then, he came across the memory of his sister once again. She was always expressive and over-emotional, and he made sure to remember that.

After putting together those pictures in his mind, Shinji once again proposed a rather interesting question to himself, as he always did. Did his "world", as he knew it, even exist anymore? Now that he was no longer a part of it anymore, it felt odd to refer to it as his, but he was sure that his home would always be his home. Despite these somewhat selfish thoughts, the boy hoped mostly that it still did exist. Not only for him, but for those that resided in it.

It was another unknown day, in an unknown month, during an unknown year. Shinji was very good at counting and being patient, but he felt he didn't have the fortitude to count large measures of time like days and months. A year was out of the question.

Musings such as these – more often than not – was what filled the boy's head. Perhaps there was a certain scientist who would believe that his cursed fate was a very intriguing case to be studied. Existence in the non-existence. Maybe they'd laugh at him trying to speak while stuck in the void. Comedy wasn't his thing, but he'd grown tired of his jokes, and desperately craved for someone – anyone else's.

Despite this desperation to have someone else acknowledge his existence, he felt that he had a more pressing matter. That was, his lack of memory of other people. Skimming through his collection, as he'd taken to calling it, he only came to fragments. Going through these scraps, he tried to pick up what was left. A girl with food? Reflecting on it, it didn't feel quite right to him. One day, a girl had come up to him and offered some… No, no, he was quite sure that nobody cared to talk to him in high school. It was quite the hilarious idea, though, of someone offering him anything.

There was also someone who he thought was a relative… His intuition suggested someone close, like a sister. But he found he could only remember something about her hair color and attitude… After a good long while of trying to pinpoint more information, he gave up. Obviously, she wasn't very close to him if he could hardly recall anything.

After his shaky trip through what were probably now shattered memories, Shinji settled back on counting time, starting from a second.

* * *

Shinji's mind raced with uncontrollable thoughts focused on something other than his existential crises. Despite his supposed solitude in the void that was, by all assumption, meant to break, or do _something_ to him, this was far from the truth. He was seeing things again. Seeing _something_. They were, by all means, shapes. And if his senses served right, they were human shapes. Accompanying the sight of these shapes were an array of voices, masculine and female. Though it was very rarely he had these encounters, he more than believed that they were real.

* * *

"They" had started getting louder, but the number of "them" also decreased. Despite this, however, he could still very much hear them, even if they were no longer sounding their insane cacophony. His eyes made them seem far away, but their voices were where his ear… _should_ be. It was hard to remember what he looked like, and it was even harder to remember anything except his name. The word memory itself seemed like nothing but a concept, and the only thing that filled his mind was thoughts of the void that had become his home. Maybe something about a sister every now and then, but he figured it was just his mind playing tricks on him. He was sure he had never had a sister, or brother, or any sort of family. He had to have had parents, but he figured that didn't matter anymore.

Forcing sense back into his being, he suddenly realised that while in his stupor, the voices had stopped. This gave him time to do what he'd eventually came to do best, and that was to think on it. Oddly, the knowledge that something else was here, and knew that he was there as well didn't fill him with happiness as it should have.

Shinji could not yet realise why, but something about those ceaseless, unintelligible whispers didn't sit with him right.

* * *

Two were there. One female, one male. Despite their otherworldly presence, they took on human appearances. However, their features did not remind Shinji of any person that he might once have known. The male had unnaturally dark hair, with its eyes as deep and sinking as the void, itself. The female had impossibly long, wavy silver hair, with a blindingly white glow for its "eyes". Despite their contrasting appearances, they both carried an expression full of what could only be called malevolence. Immediately, Shinji realised that not only for them to stay, but to have the expressions on their faces that they did, they must want something.

Though they did not speak to him, nor vice versa, he found information filling his head that proved his guess correct. It was an odd sensation, feeling his mind filled with intent and words other than his.

The two beings wanted his assent to a certain deal. Both the male one, named Hatov, and the female, Hara, were proposing to grant him exit from the void, in exchange for one thing – the room in his soul. In other words, he would no longer own his existence.

These words struck a chord of hesitation within the boy.

At any moment, something could go wrong.

At any moment, something could happen.

But honestly, he didn't care much for his worries. From his perspective, it was much better than being in the void, and waiting until his body and mind died, if it was even allowed to.

Hara reached "her" hand out towards the boy, pearly white skin making the offer look all the more tempting. Shinji did not need much of an extra push, however, as the being easily took his hand, and restored feeling to his body. There was a moment of relief for him.

Then, there was pain. Unbelievable pain rushing through his body, debilitating him as soon as he was able to feel himself once more. Then, the other, Hatov, brushed pass Hara and forcibly stabbed its' hand through Shinji, his mouth opening in a silent scream as his pain was more than quadrupled. The sensation went through his body like acid, burning every corner of his body, down to the ends of his nerves, leaving nothing in its' path.

That was when his consciousness gave in, along with his vision, the last thing the pain enabling him to witness being the large, unsettling grins splayed across the beings' faces.

Shinji had made a mistake.

* * *

In the centre of Tengu City, a familiar siren went off, signs popping from buildings and a voice announcing the disaster known as a spacequake. The air vibrated violently and crackled, clouds parting as space bent in on itself. The citizens rushed to shelters around the city, clearing as quickly as they could before the inevitable occurred.

However, a young boy, Shido Itsuka, was not like the others. He stood a while away from the impact site he had been conveniently transported to, awaiting the impact. He had a job to do. And he would make sure that he did it without fail. That was – to seal unstable spirits.

This spacequake itself was a calling card, and more than anything, it required his attention.

A spirit was coming.

And it was very, very much unstable.


	3. A Welcoming Party

**Hey, guys, me again. Here's the usual self-deprecation section where I give people reasons why they shouldn't read.  
** **Something important: this doesn't pick up the LN plot. At all. There may end up being some similarities, but I'm not following anything in the LN. Everything that follows is written originally, and many situations are made up by me while developing the story. Proceed knowing that, ladies and gentlemen!**

 **Oh, and Happy New Year! It's only 11 PM, but still, it feels good to get a chapter out right before the holiday.**

* * *

 **Chapter 3**

 **A Welcoming Party**

* * *

A certain young twin-tailed commander sat, legs crossed, at the rear control room of her ship. Said vessel was called the Fraxinus, the prize and glory of not only the Commander herself, but the organisation that she worked for – Ratatoskr.

This girl's name is Kotori Itsuka, aforementioned commander of the Fraxinus, and sister of Shido Itsuka. Currently, her eyes were intently set on scanning the screen projected far in front of her. It displayed a map of Tengu City, along with other various smaller screens of miscellaneous readings and statistics scattered to the side.

Despite the screen's distance and seemingly impractical height, the girl was far elevated over the crew members assigned to her that were at work at their own individual stations below. This made it much more convenient for her to view what she needed to, and issue her orders accordingly. She rolled the cherry lollipop in her mouth around, shifting her position in her chair. Her favourite flavor – if she were asked. The candy was more of a stress reliever, if anything.

If one were to look closer on the displayed map, there was a small static blue dot on the screen, representing Kotori's brother, Shido. His placement left him only a few meters away out of the spacequake's predicted max radius. Kotori's reddish-pink eyes squinted slightly, however, as she found a small fault with the display. Namely – the lack of other dots on the screen. Those that represented each individual Spirit that usually stuck to Shido like glue.

"Where are the other Spirits?" Kotori questioned, folding her arms while leaning back into her chair.

"At your residence, Commander," Officer Masaomi Mikimoto, ironically known as "Boss" began, bringing up another monitor on the larger screen displaying the Spirits all doing various things around and in the Itsuka household. "It seems that Shido told them that he was going out shopping before we brought him here."

"Good." She replied simply, satisfied with the response for the moment. She returned her attention to the screen.

"Enlarge the spacequake's readings." She ordered, one of the side screens now taking the map's place as the main display in front of her at her word. Kotori gave them a once over before sighing, closing her eyes and thinking back to what Reine had said when the spacequake warning was first issued.

The signal was fairly new, having its' own unique signature readings as the event slowly phased itself into existence. Likely, that meant that it was a new, unregistered Spirit. That was the whole reason as to why Shido was there in the first place. It was also the reason as to why everyone in the ship was much more tense than resorting to their regular antics. Everyone knew that, despite Shido's amazing healing abilities, spacequakes could easily kill him, as could the Spirits that emerged from them.

"…nder…mmander…Commander." A clear, flat voice came into focus, interrupting Kotori's inner monologue. She glanced a look at the side to see the source.

Off to the side stood a woman who looked almost half-dead, bags under her eyes and a lab coat thrown over her shoulders. This not-too-enthusiastic woman was Murasame Reine, the ship's one and only analyst, who was standing there with a few papers in her hand, wearing her all too common almost blank expression.

"Ah, Reine. What is it?" Kotori asked, turning to look back at the statistics that minimised to once again provide space for a now enlarged map.

The unnaturally pale woman cleared her throat, speaking as she held up the papers in her hand and passed it to the man standing beside Kotori, the Vice Commander, Kyouhei Kannazuki. "I think it would be best if you looked at those, yourself." Reine mumbled, hands now at her sides again.

Kannazuki simply passed the papers off to Kotori, rather normally and without even a peep. This caused everyone at their workstations to pause at their stations momentarily, everyone turning to look back at the man in unison. Kannazuki stood straight as he always did, hands behind his back, face taking on a confused look before realisation hit him, the Vice Commander smiling gently.

"I appreciate your concern, everyone. I know you all see me as a failure of society, but I would greatly prefer that sort of social shunning – of course, I wouldn't mind it getting physical, as well, - from our beloved Command-UGH."

Promptly, Kannazuki's whole body slammed into the ground, brought down by some mysterious force that brought swift punishment for his words. He twitched slightly in place, a smile spreading across his face. This short action caused everyone to immediately go back to their jobs. All was right in the universe, again.

"Disgusting perverts aside-" A small noise resembling a squeal came from the floor at this, annoyance obvious in Kotori's tone and face, " – Aren't these the readings that we were just processing a few minutes ago, Reine?" She questioned, one hand holding the documents while the other hovered conveniently over Kannazuki's head, smoke rising from the fist.

"You're right. But the key to understanding what I'm trying to say is that when you compare these two papers together," Reine stepped up onto the elevated platform, taking care not to step on Kannazuki. "They match up almost identically, at the beginning." To make her point, she flipped the pages on the documents, before stopping at a certain page, leaving the page with the current readings open.

Kotori looked down at the paper, her expression growing grim, all traces of annoyance leaving her features. At the top of the paper in large black letters, the word 'Macabre' was printed out, detailing the known information and readings on the mysterious Spirit that shared a code-name with the title. The reason for its' nickname was obvious the more one read through the document, the conflicting readings and vague information almost suggesting forgery.

"Macabre, the Spirit who cannot wield a proper Angel." Kotori repeated the words at the beginning of the page, voice somewhat nervous as she spoke. She took her lollipop from her mouth briefly, letting out a small sigh as she closed the papers, returning them to Reine. "If your hunch is right, then we might really have to pull Shido out of there."

Reine nodded, turning to look at the screen, presented in front of them, her eyes focused on the small blue dot. "Yes. I was also thinking that if we once more have to deal with what happened then, Shin will be in an incredible amount of danger."

Kotori wasn't given much time to put thought to the new nature of the situation, as a beeping sound echoed throughout the Fraxinus' control room. A few grey dots appeared at the outer edge of the map, steadily making their way to the middle.

"Commander! The AST is preemptively deploying to the scene!" Officer Kyoji Kawagoe, better known as "Bad Marriage" notified, the dots continuing to speed in from the distance.

Kotori now wore a frown on her face, another sigh escaping from her lips.

"Seriously? The spacequake hasn't even happened yet, and those guys are already out? They must be on their toes after DEM. See if you can do something about them." Annoyance once more filled her tone, the commander huffing out her order.

Kawagoe nodded, hands moving quickly to fulfill his duty. However, his work brought a much more important issue to light.

"Commander! Ship communications have suddenly gone unresponsive! Our entire system is going completely haywire! Bringing up readings, now!" He yelled, a nervous sweat running down his forehead as he attempted to restart the system.

"What? Jamming…? No, it can't be that, so wh-" Kotori's voice hitched in her throat, all reason disappearing as she returned her attention the now enlarged screen of readings. An alarm began blaring throughout the entire vessel, as the number of spatial distortions suddenly began to skyrocket. Her lollipop dropped to floor, prompting the still recovering Kannazuki to lunge at the candy. Well, only to be stopped by Kotori's foot coming down and crushing it.

"Those readings are impossible! We've never seen any one single Spirit cause this much spatial distortion! At the most, that's almost a quarter of the city – gone!" She shouted in disbelief, jumping up from her seat in pure outrage. The previously stable, predictable readings had suddenly became more wild and chaotic – completely shattering any predictions as to where or how hard it was going to hit.

Even Reine, known for her cool and analytical demeanour seemed off-put by the sudden change, the woman hurrying down from the elevated position in the Fraxinus towards the back. Despite the current situation, she had to make sure that the systems in the airship were reading properly.

"We need to bring Shido back here, now!" She commanded, pupils shrinking as the realisation dawned upon her. If what was on the screen was right – then there was no way that even Shido could survive.

Officer Hinako Shiizaki looked down for a moment, before speaking the grave truth in a low voice. "We… We can't, Commander. The amount of energy in the air is affecting the ship, despite our altitude of 15,000 kilometres. If we were to try and bring him back now, then we'd not only damage him in the process, but also the ship's Realizers due to the unstable transport." The woman murmured, refusing to look back at the Commander as she spoke.

"That… Can't be…"

Kotori felt as if a lead weight had pressed down onto her heart. She let herself fall back into the chair, looking straight down at the ground.

Everything seemed quiet after the revelation.

Shiizaki, attempting to rectify what she had said turned back desperately to apologise.

"Commander, I-"

"Are the other Spirits safe, at least?" Kotori interrupted, voice once again resolute, as she steeled her nerves, sitting up and looking forward.

Shiizaki seemed confused, pausing at the question. She turned back to her workstation, nervously typing away and bringing up the newly simulated radius of the spacequake on the map. "They are still at the Itsuka residence. Even if the spacequake were to reach its' maximum potential, the house is located far outside of the radius of the spacequake."

"Then we retreat for now. We can't afford to let the ship come down." She ordered, frustration evident in her voice despite the strength returning to her. The crew remained silent and carried out the order, Kannazuki taking the moment to stand up and dust himself off, leaving his antics for later.

Kotori stared forward at the screen, feeling anger well up inside of her from her own order. All she could do was close her eyes in resignation, and grit her teeth.

She only had one wish.

'Shido… Stay safe, please.'

* * *

Shido Itsuka was not, and never would be the type of person to abandon someone in need of help for his own selfish desires. That was the only reason why, moments ago, he took the risk of standing only meters away from a predicted area of a spacequake, facing the dangerous phenomena because he wanted to help the beings that originated from them – the Spirits. If it came down to it, he would face death itself for those he cared about.

However, he wasn't the type of person to freely enter death's embrace, and selfishly leave behind those same people precious to him.

Because of this, Shido was running from that spot he had been teleported to by the airship Fraxinus, his breath heavy, and body weary from the continuous movement. He felt, for a few reasons, that his best option was get as far away as he could from that place. Periodically, he brought a finger to his ear, tapping the earpiece within.

"Kotori! Kotori!" He shouted between breaths, hoping that he would get a response from the airship, but more importantly, his sister that commanded the vessel. However, due to the complete silence in his ear, he could tell that the attempts were sadly no good.

The reason why Shido found this spacequake was the one he had to run away from of all others he'd seen, despite his desire to help the Spirits, was because it wasn't regular.

He had simply been standing there and waiting for it to happen while behind cover, and suddenly, found himself struggling to breathe, his body beginning to fail him. Whenever he moved to get away or tried to breathe, his whole body began to ache. Every living thing in the area had evacuated, or was in the process of trying to. Call it whatever you will, but Shido thought it was good to follow their example, and fast.

While he was running, something clicked in Shido's mind, prompting him to stop only for a moment in the middle of an alley, his back resting against the wall. Giving up on the earpiece, Shido realised that the phone service still persisted during spacequakes, despite the lack of personnel to facilitate it. He pulled out his phone, hastily unlocking it and clicking on his contacts, scanning through the names quickly.

It was impossible for Shido to call everyone, impractical too, so he knew that he could only make one call. He decided on Tohka. Kotori was probably doing her best already, and he had faith that Tohka could tell everyone what was happening in his place. Besides, if there was someone who he needed to tell what was happening – it was her.

He brought the phone up to his ears, panting heavily as he listened to the occasional ringing of the phone.

'Please, God, let it reach her...'

Shido waited and waited as the phone rang, until the sound of the line dropping echoed throughout the alley. He shook his head, desperately trying to make his way to the number again, sweat barrelling down his forehead. His hands shook in fear and panic while he navigated the list, finally making it back to her. However, before he could even press it, a sudden and violent throbbing began in his head, the boy dropping to his knees without much control over his body. The phone tumbled from his grip onto the ground only a few inches away.

Fate seemed against him, as the same debilitating symptoms he had experienced before returning. His throat tightened up, and he felt all of the air sucked out of his lungs at once. No matter how much he tried, he could not even wheeze.

As he slowly asphyxiated, the ground around him began to shake, the boy's hand desperately outstretched towards the phone that lie just out of his reach.

' _Toh… ka… Every…one..'_

Shido's consciousness slowly faded away, his arm falling to the asphalt with a small thud. Despite his loss of consciousness, the area around him continued to deteriorate, the shaking only intensifying. It got to the point where smaller buildings in the area, such as homes and small businesses began to come apart, collapsing and crumbling, until the point when the spacequake finally hit ground zero.

* * *

At Tengu City's very centre, a dense of ball of pitch black spatial energy imposed itself into the ground, rather than simply hitting the ground and expanding out immediately, the phenomenon exploding in on itself twice, before swiftly expanding outwards, consuming and annihilating all in its' path. The blast peaked at the apex of the clouds, wind whipping around the outside of the dome of energy, collected almost like a hurricane. Violent streaks of electricity arced around the sphere, striking out in a similar fashion to lightning. Cars and pieces of collapsed, or partly destroyed buildings got caught up in the artificial current, along with other dissociated pieces of rubble. The streets were left cracked and bare, and most buildings in the radius deformed or nearly obliterated.

Then, the energy suddenly released, launching dirt and hellfire everywhere. Cars smashed against the remains of buildings with the force of small missiles and rubble littered the road almost as plentifully as the dust itself.

The twice-exploding detonation left a small wasteland in its' wake, electricity still dancing around the area as if it were being pulled from the air.

In the middle of this destruction stood Shinji Takehiko, perfectly still.

He was unscathed. Perfectly fine, despite the large explosion that brought about his arrival to the city. He wore a simple gi stopping at his waist, a hakama dropping to his ankles and a haori that hung over his shoulders, stopping just below the waist. He looked something like a samurai straight from Japanese folk-tale.

A bandanna was also wrapped tightly around his forehead, trailing all the way down to the waist, and he had only a quaint pair of yukata sandals on his feet.

If it were not for the explosion, Shinji would still have stood out, due to the contrasting black and white gradients that adorned his clothing from front to back.

Seemingly ignoring his outfit, Shinji walked forward through a still rising haze of dust, kicked up by the current that remained around the now large crater indented into the earth. Silently, he observed the destruction with which he had brought himself to the world. The sleeves of his haori beat back against his upper arm, metallic grey hair rustling slightly in the air. Occasionally, one could her the clutter of rocks falling to the ground through the sound of the wind whistling.

He continued to move forward, still remaining completely quiet.

That was – until the irresistible urge to look up hit him. He did not know why, but decided to follow his instincts, the action rewarding him with a revelation. In the distance were a few vague outlines – seemingly human, that were not too far away from him. Somehow, despite them not seeming like any animal he knew, they were floating in the air as they approached him with no problems.

He didn't have much time alone to his thoughts, his mind being thrown into disarray by a sudden sense of dread washing over him as he stared at the figures in the distance. Without any good reason to, he raised his arm up towards them, an in-explainable sensation filling him before a large dome of black and white energy phased into existence around him. Multiple thuds resounded through the wasteland, as a few projectiles fell to the ground harmlessly upon impact with his shield.

These projectiles continued to assault him as the figures got closer and closer, the frequency and strength continuing with each shot. A small frown played across his feature as he continued to hold the shield up, only watching the figures approach until they were close enough for him to make out their faces.

As soon as he was visible, they seemed surprised for some reason, looks of disbelief on almost all of their faces.

Despite the small respite, he noticed them recover and talk to each other, one with long black hair who was leading them (she also seemed older than the others that he noted were all female) rallying the others to form around him. They continued their barrage, Shinji now struggling to keep his defences up due to the large hail of bullets hitting him from all directions. Now that they were even closer – he could see what was propelling them. Some sort of green aura coming from their backs.

Shinji grit his teeth at the omnidirectional attack, taking his hands from the edges of the shield and staring at them.

'They're trying to kill me.'

Despite this realisation, that was not what made Shinji look at his palms. It was rather that something felt off. He felt as if he was not supposed to just stand there, but was supposed to _have_ something. Something to fight these enemies with.

He closed his eyes and brought his palms above him, his enemies stopping their barrage out of caution. Shinji brought to mind a tool. A weapon. Something to allow him to vanquish his foes!

His eyes sparked, his whole body shining as blinding light, bright enough to be completely visible surrounded him and expanded outwards, flashing everyone and everything in the area surrounding him.

Despite never having done this, the words came to Shinji as easy as bringing up the shield did.

"Ha-tov!" He echoed, the ground rumbling as the light accumulated around him even more around his arms outstretched to the skies, a beam of pure energy piercing the clouds from above and striking down below, stopping in Shinji's palm and spreading out to both sides, forming something in his hands.

Soon enough, the light dispersed revealing the weapon now in his hand, the boy bringing down his hands with his new weapon – a spear.

The spear had an ethereal glow rising from it, golden rings circling around the shaft as if they were orbiting it. Heat rose up off of the weapon in the form of steam, Shinji gripping the shaft tightly in his hands.

Shinji looked up once more, noticing that the enemies had re-formed, and were now ready to resume their fight. He sighed, spreading his legs slightly as he brought the spear in front of him in a piercing stance.

Taking this as a sign, the girls began to fire at him once more, this time, adding much more heavier explosives to the mix. Shinji cleaved them in half without much effort, leaving himself open. One took the opportunity and rushed towards him, taking a blade from her belt and slashing at him.

He got a glance of her and immediately remembered her as the one who was leading them. He jumped back in time, barely avoiding the slice, but wasn't given time to rest as she launched at him again. Shinji jumped up into the air to meet her, pushing against her laser-like blade with the pure energy and heat of his spear, the collision keeping the two floating.

Shinji pushed her back, and the shelling suddenly intensified, now that their ally wasn't near him anymore. He simply put up a shield and held the spear in front of him, the one of the golden rings rotating around the shaft pausing its' movement and shining, a small sphere of energy materializing at the tip and firing a large beam reminiscent to the one that had came down from the sky, directly towards the still recovering leader.

The woman activated a crystal-like green shield of her own, deflecting the blast away towards a nearby building, half of which was instantly vaporised without so much as a noise. She was pushed back by the recoil, launching into a large stone behind her that left her on the ground.

The woman weakly struggled to stand up, as Shinji simply cracked his neck and prepared to fire another blast, smiling at the previous results. However, he was stopped by the sound of cracking glass, his shield disappearing around him.

He looked back and barely noticed that one of the girls had sneaked up behind him, shattering the shield and closing in on him incredibly quickly. Seemingly, she'd sacrificed her propulsion for speed. He turned around at the last second, as the girl pulled one of the laser blades from her belt and sliced cleanly across his cheek.

Shinji jumped away from the girl, landing plainly on his feet and skidding backwards. The girl followed up her attack, rushing at him. They engaged in a struggle similar to the one he'd had before, only, she was actually pushing him back.

He actually got a good look at her during the struggle, her bright white hair contrasting greatly to his metallic grey, and her expression full of passion to defeat and kill him contrasting that of his simple blank gaze.

The two stepped away from the clash, soon engaging in a flurry of attacks and struggles around the battlefield, all the while Shinji having to weave in and out of the path of the onslaught of projectiles. Their fight was a blur, the two only increasing in speed and passion while fighting while keeping their eyes closely on each other.

During their clashes, the girl managed to slip under his guard and land many blows on him, none too critical, but wearing him down nonetheless, giving the others opportunities to fire on him.

Eventually, the other girls had run out of ammo, leaving only him and the other girl able to fight.

She had cuts and bruises over her body, while he stood with only bruises, and the scrape she'd left on his cheek.

"That was a good test. However, I think that it's time to end this." He mumbled, levitating slightly into the air. She could not follow, as he had broken her flight device during one of their clashes. He aimed his spear towards her, this time, both golden rings locking into place as the steam rising from the sword soon almost filled the whole area, the spear glowing blindingly bright as the same sphere appeared at the tip, this time, glowing a brilliantly shining gold.

There were the shouts of her allies urging her to flee, as they turned and flew away from the beam, and one even seemed to have the leader over her shoulder as she left.

"It's over."

The beam fired point-blank at the girl with a deafening roar, the light boring into the ground and vaporising the earth around it.

When the dust had settled, the battlefield had been completely decimated, but Shinji found no trace of the suited girl who had been his opponent. Nor did he see any sign of her allies. He looked behind him, noting that the leader had disappeared as well.

Slowly, he descended until he was on the ground again, the spear dissipating slowly until it was completely gone.

"They escaped." He noted, looking up and seeing their retreating forms far in the distance.

He shook his head and turned in the opposite direction, beginning to walk.

Despite the fight, he had much more important priorities than testing his own abilities. He had power. That, he had just confirmed.

But what he needed were answers.

* * *

"Origami, that was incredibly reckless! Even after getting off of your home arrest, you're still as rebellious as ever. Just how eager are you to get hurt?" A mature voice echoed in the sunset, as Ryouko Kusakabe, captain of the AST reprimanded, turning to a bruised girl who wore an almost vaporised wire suit.

"I simply saw it as the right time to act, captain. At that moment, you had been incapacitated, and he might have even killed you. I took the action that I thought was necessary to win. We would not have won by keeping formation." Origami Tobiichi, said rebellious girl replied responded.

"Ah, man, you're making my job as hard as ever. Whatever. More importantly, I have to focus on how I'm going to report this… abnormality to HQ. I don't know how the heck it happened, but there's a powerful _male_ Spirit out there. And if that spacequake was anything to go by, it's going to make our jobs a hell of a lot harder." She muttered, sighing as she felt more deserved vacations slip through her fingers.

Origami simply nodded at her captain's words, but in her mind, she'd been focused on the Spirit from the moment she had seen it when they were approaching. Of all the appearances for the Spirits to take, she would not have expected it to be a male Spirit. Not to mention… Something about it disturbed her, too. Those empty soulless eyes of its, as black as the deepest pits of the ocean, and the way it so casually fired such a ridiculous attack at her.

It hit her that it had called their fight a "test", while she was putting everything she had into pushing it back and landing the hits that she had.

The girl clenched her fist, as her goal came to mind. She needed more power. She needed more power to fight and achieve her goal of eliminating Spirits, and she needed to get stronger to protect those she cared about…

She would never let would happened to her happen to anyone else. She would continue her job of fighting and exterminating Spirits until her last breath left her body.

No matter what.


	4. A Pair of New Partners

**Okay so, what do I really put here? 'Hey guys, sorry this chapter took months, almost a year, see ya next time! Haha!' No. Just, no. Please review, you guys, if there are any people who actually care about this story, I don't really know, since this whole thing is so silent, nowadays. Maybe DAL stories just aren't all that good? Ah, who am I kidding, I just need to keep posting, and hopefully the viewers will come. Hopefully.**

 **Again, alternate universe blah blah, different MC blah blah, different plot blah blah, non-canon explanations, blah blah! Not adding any plot or characters from the Light Novels (for now) because I still haven't read them, officially! Story continues right after season 2 of DAL! No game characters or movie, by the way.**

 **Thanks, and I hope this provides an interesting read!**

* * *

 **Chapter 4**

 **A Pair of New Partners**

* * *

Silently, Shinji sat there.

In the corner of an empty, abandoned building. Better put, it was more of an unfinished construction project than a fully fledged place. It had nothing. No furniture, appliances, signs, nothing that could even give away what it was supposed to be. Just like every other building in the area.

The wall behind him was cold. It didn't feel good at all. Not surprising, considering that it was only a crude and bare construct of broken concrete. The whole building was. Whatever damage he had caused from that earlier explosion had reached all the way out here, even to this far-out district.

"Tengu City." His voice was lost in the darkness. That was what he had seen, on the signs thrown up on the streets. Probably, he figured, it was what they called the entire location. At least he knew where he was. That brought him a little bit of comfort. Next, he needed to find a way to blend in with the locals. If that white-haired one and the others were lurking around somewhere, then he wasn't safe.

On that note, his eyes were drawn down to his current outfit. He gave a frown. It felt familiar, but it also felt a little bit ridiculous, now that he wasn't even fighting anything.

"Maybe I could change into something more fitting..." He attempted to think back to a few of the people that he had passed on his way into hiding. If whatever was fuelling him could make these sort of clothes, then why not anything else? Only one set of clothes would be pretty...impractical, being kind about it. Not to mention, it'd just leave him wide open, standing out way more than he needed to.

"Then..." His thoughts trailed to some of the younger looking inhabitants that he had passed by. They all had given him weird stares and some even laughed at him, but that didn't really rub him the wrong way or anything. After all, when the adrenaline of the fight had gone away, he felt pretty stupid about it, too. Putting together his train of thought, their robes came to mind.

Some sort of shirt, with a jacket worn over it. A piece of cloth around the neck that he remembered as a 'tie', and a clear pair of grey pants. He didn't pay much attention to their feet, but from what he did see, they wore some sort of black-looking pair of shoes with laces on them. Almost miraculously, his outfit changed before his very eyes just as he had imagined it, and he looked exactly like one of those...students! Students, that was the word that came to mind. Even more importantly, though, was the emblem on the pocket of the uniform: Raizen High School. Shinji committed that to memory.

He stood up, and walked over to a giant hole in the wall , made from the force of explosion that had erupted only hours ago. The outside was calm. In the distance, he could barely make out the gleam of multiple lights that broke through the darkness of the night. They seemed even brighter than they were, seeing as the entire around him had no lights.

The light was easily reflected in his clear grey eyes as he looked onward. Without noticing, he had brought a hand up to his chest.

"In this place, there has to be somewhere to go, where I can find out more. There has to be something that I can do." His monologue was interrupted by the slightest of sounds in his ears.

Immediately and abruptly, he turned around, his new clothes whipping around with the rest of his body. His eyes focused on a shadowy figure standing mere inches away from him.

"Reveal yourself." The boy commanded blankly, eyes narrowing, all previous emotions erased as he entered a much less welcoming mood.

Even in the darkness, he could still make out an unnaturally wide grin on the person's face. There was something off about their presence. Compared to the suited soldiers, they did not feel...the same.

As they stepped forward, a ray of light revealed their features. A pair of hetero-chromatic eyes – red and yellow – gleamed in the serene dullness of the moonlight. Only on one glance, he could tell that _she_ was unmistakably feminine.

"My, my. Are we playing dress up already?"

* * *

"…in…hin…Shin." Shido could barely hear the makings of a voice calling him from the void of unconsciousness.

"Mn..." He mumbled weakly, eyes struggling to open. Even though the voice sounded familiar, he just couldn't get it in him to get up. Almost sensing his thoughts, there was a sudden flash of a critical memory, and he quickly sat upright.

"Tohka! Kotori! Everyon-gh…!"A pain that felt like fire burned across his back, and he resisted the urge to yell in pain. He was paralysed and couldn't lay back down on his own, but he could instead feel himself being laid to rest by another person.

"Relax, Shin. If you get up too quickly, you'll just reopen your wound." The voice echoed in his ears. Shido forced his eyes open to get a better look at the person, this time. Gray strands came into view.

"Reine?" He asked, raising his head to get a good look. It was a little bit of a rhetorical question, considering Shido didn't know a lot of people who used that nickname with that appearance.

"You shouldn't move right now." Reine said, instead of answering his question. "You're in the Fraxinus' sick bay, and your wounds are bad. Whatever hit you looks like it nullified your healing factor." Reine explained in a dull tone, seated at a chair beside the patient bed Shido was laying in.

Shido didn't know exactly how to react to that, so he just continued on. "Okay, then...what happened to the Spirit?" He asked, lowering his head down onto the pillow behind him. "No, wait…was that just a simple spirit? That wasn't any regular spacequake." The memories of reality bending around him began flowing back into his mind. Reine opened her mouth to explain, before the whirring sound of the door sliding open interrupted her. Thuds that sounded like footsteps filled the room, and bright colours filled Shido's blurry vision.

"Shido, are you okay?!" Tohka.

"S-Shido…" Yoshino.

"Always worrying about others before yourself, huh?" Kotori.

"Question. What placed you in this condition?" Yuzuru.

"Yeah! What the heck happened?" Kaguya.

"Darling! What happened to you?!" Miku.

At the sound of these six voices, Shido allowed himself a small smile. 'So, everyone's safe, after all… Thank goodness.' He let out a sigh of relief… Before being smacked on the forehead. "Ouch! Hey!"

"What are you looking all giddy for?" His red-headed sister asked, smoke rising off of her fist. It was clear that she was in 'commander' mode. "You almost died back there, that isn't anything to be happy about." Kotori clicked her tongue, shaking her head. "More importantly, it's good that you made it back here."

Tohka pouted at Kotori's roughness, and raised her fists in protest. "Hey, you shouldn't just slap Shido like that! He looks hurt as is!" She huffed, rushing over to an unoccupied side of the bed.

Miku nodded curtly, moving over to another side. "I agree with Tohka." She stated, and then looked down at Shido with worry in her eyes. "But, what – or who was this that kept even Darling down?"

"Agreement. Yuzuru and Kaguya would like to know as well." Yuzuru said, Kaguya nodding fiercely beside her.

"And Yoshinon and Yoshino too!" Yoshinon, Yoshino's rambunctious puppet added, the girl hiding shyly behind the rabbit-like construct. Shido had almost forgotten about him. Almost.

"Relax, relax, I was getting to it, anyway!" Kotori shouted, quieting the room. "Geez! Now, Reine, if you'd do the honours." She said, turning towards the centre of the room. Everybody followed her eyes, Reine pressing a few buttons on the previously unseen laptop resting on the table in front of her, a small holographic projection beaming down from the ceiling. Shido forced his eyes to open wider and sat up again, his vision clearing a little thanks to the action.

A video clip began to play on the screen, starting off with a large explosion that rattled the camera...

* * *

What they saw on the screen was an almost apocalyptic sight. A single Spirit's arrival didn't only decimate a good quarter of Tengu City, but _he_ had single-handedly disabled the entirety of the AST, and taken out Origami and her captain, all at once! That, wasn't what everyone, sans Kotori and Reine were trying to process, though. It had something to do with the appearance of the renegade Spirit.

"That Spirit… That… That was a guy!" Kaguya was the first to shout it out, voice filled with disbelief as she turned away from the projection. "That impossible, right? Spirits shouldn't be guys!" She pointed out, literally holding a finger towards the finished video.

Kotori turned to Reine for confirmation and the woman nodded. She opened her mouth, with all eyes in the room now focused on her. "Right now, this Spirit, code-named Ruin, is not the only one of its' kind we've all seen. Apart from gender, there's been another Spirit with similar readings. I'm sure all of you remember Macabre." Reine reminded, bringing up a photo of the city in ruins, in a similar state, only with one minor difference. There was one single spirit standing in the midst of a pool of dark red liquid, head upturned to the sky, the sight of bodies in military uniforms barely kept out of frame around her.

"Yeah…" Shido spoke up shakily, thinking back to the failed attempt to 'date' her. "The one who uses blood, right?" He asked hesitantly, as the visual of a battle-hungry, grinning girl surrounded by blood replayed in his mind. His expression, if it had looked normal before, seemed a lot downhearted. Everyone in the room shared that sentiment.

"You mean that really strong one that ran away on Shido?" Tohka recalled in an uncharacteristically saddened voice, as she brought back her own memories of the rogue spirit. She had even began to befriend her, in secret, before the crew of the Fraxinus had even coordinated her meeting with Shido.

Reine nodded in affirmation, continuing her explanation after a brief pause. "Both Macabre and Ruin emit very unusual, fluctuating levels of spirit energy, that is either unreadable, or greater than anything that should be possible. Like everyone saw, this results in a much more powerful and potent spacequake than we've ever recorded, even surpassing that of Tohka's inverted transformation." Reine claimed, causing everyone in the room to gulp simultaneously. If the mood hadn't seemed heavy before, now it was just crushing. "They cannot even be classified as S class Spirits. We have had to apply a new rank: X class. The ghosts."

"Lastly, these Spirits are undetectable. The readings that they give aren't very trustworthy, so they can't be properly pinned down unless they have initiated a spacequake of some sort. That makes them a lot more dangerous than your average Spirit, considering that evacuations can't start until after the Spacequake has already begun. Both last time and this time, Tengu City barely managed to avoid any civilian casualties." Reine finished, dismissing the data display on the screen.

"And that's all we know about this new type of Spirit." Kotori added, folding her arms and leaning against the wall nearest to the door. "And, about why there's a male spirit… We don't know. Right now, nobody can even start to explain that." She sighed, taking her lollipop from her mouth. "What we do know, though, is that we need to find some way for both Ruin and Macabre to be sealed, before something dangerous happens." Her eyes moved towards Shido, everyone in the rooms' eyes widening at the implications.

"This Macabre girl, I get, but about the dude, you can't be freaking se-!" Kaguya began to shout, before being quickly and efficiently silenced by Yuzuru's unbiased palm.

"Question. Would that be achieved using the same method employed with us?" She asked, clearly attempting to keep a calm tone while staring at Kotori.

"That's a good question. Obviously, I don't intend for Shido to 'date' a guy…" She looked to be mulling over it, but abruptly began smirking. "Or, well, he could always become Shiori again~?" She sang with an evil grin. Miku seemed delighted at the prospect of the idea, while Shido's eyes filled with unbridled terror. "I'm just joking, of course." She immediately dismissed with a wave. Miku perked down at being strung along with a minor pout, and Shido's relief only put more of a damper on it for her.

"I have a feeling that this particular Spirit wouldn't be too invested in playing along with a date, anyways, even more so considering that it's a guy. If we're going by Macabre's example, these new Spirits aren't really the friendliest." That made Tohka's eyebrow twitch inadvertently. "So, to compensate for the lack of options, we've been trying to work on something that can stop not only our rampaging Ruin, but also Macabre from damaging the city further, if another Spacequake were to happen. And we've got just the right person to try it out on without any risks!" She grinned, as the door slid open once more, revealing the surprise visitor.

In the door stood a girl with a remarkably similar appearance to Shido, mirroring almost all of his features, clothed in what seemed like a military outfit. The most important part on her that stood out, though, was the futuristic-looking bracelet that pulsed with blue light on her wrist. Everyone's eyes were drawn to her at the moment she entered the room, mostly looks of caution than looks of shock. That changed with Kotori's next words, as the tiny commander stood up from the wall.

"The Fraxinus' very own Wizard, Takamiya Mana!"

* * *

Two figures sat at the edge of the aforementioned building, the moonlight now to their backs as it reached closer to sinking below the horizon. One was in a school uniform, the other in a complicated-looking dress of sorts, almost reminiscent of something a girl would wear at a ball.

"Take a seat, you said...I was expecting something more threatening, but I wasn't exactly expecting you to do...this." Shinji was the first to break the silence, referring to how the two were sitting together like they were old friends. "Not to mention, it feels like you came a lot more overdressed, wearing something like that." He said bluntly, turning to look at the girl beside him.

"Really?" She replied with mock surprise. "I believe that it's a lady's duty to look elegant wherever she goes." At that response, Shinji could only let out a small sigh, turning his gaze forward once more. "Then again, I _did_ come here for business, if you wish to call it that. So, let's call it formal dress, shall we?" She said, kicking her feet idly off the edge of the building.

"Business..." His voice seemed incredulous. "Right. Then, let's get to the point and hear what this is all about."

The girl smiled delightfully, placing both hands together in satisfaction. "Excellent! Then, I suppose we'll start with the pleasantries. For now, you may call me Kurumi. There's no need to tell me your name, seeing as I already know you, _**Shinji.**_ "

He couldn't help but feel a little alarmed at that edge in her voice, and how she knew his name without a single word, but shrugged it off.

"As for what I want..." She placed a finger to her lips, before smiling impishly, and turning to the boy. "I want you to trust me."

His eyes widened. "Trust you? Out of everything that you could've asked, that's the last thing that I expected. With all that talk about your 'goals' and 'her' and explaining all this 'Spirit' and 'First Spirit' stuff to me, I figured that there would've been something else, for all that valuable information." He said with disbelief through narrowed eyes.

Kurumi laughed, but it was more of a mischievous giggle. "I don't believe that you understand your own worth, Shinji. Not how truly useful you can be, with that power of yours. As a token of our hopeful partnership, I'll be honest – it would be much easier for me to defeat you, and forcefully drain all of that power, instead." She admitted this seemingly without any care, surprising the boy even more.

"But, I'm patient. And even I'm not exactly sure that I could beat you in a one-on-one fight. So, for now, I only want you to trust me, while I feed you the information that you oh-so desire. Maybe you could even tell me a little of your own information, when the time comes. That sounds like a good deal, does it not?"

At that, Shinji couldn't just respond off the bat. He remained silent, but considering how desperate he was to learn anything about his situation, his answer was practically already made.

He smirked. "Really now, you've got me good...Alright. We'll have this little partnership, and for now, I'll trust you, Kurumi." He said, turning to the being he could now identify as a 'Spirit', and outstretching his hand. She took it with her own, and hummed pleasantly.

"Then, it's a deal. Of course, I won't be able to spare time for a daring nightly rendezvous like this all the time, but I'll see what I can do." She said, with a playful edge on her voice, squeezing his hand a little too hard.

Somehow, Shinji already understood exactly what she was implying, and quickly withdrew his hand. "Right. Please don't do that." He said politely, with an uncharacteristically nervous laugh. He could already tell that this partnership was going to be an adventure in and of itself.

She stood and dusted off her crimson gradient gothic-lolita style dress, and held her hands behind her back, as she walked to the centre of the room. "Well then, _partner_ , I'll be seeing you in the near future. Until then." She curtsied, and slowly sank into the ground, disappearing into the shadows.

Then, there was silence again. Shinji stood up and looked down at the world below, and took a single jump, landing down on the half-paved road in front of him. He looked out into the distance at the world in front of him. Without another word, he set off, walking with a newfound determination in his steps, and a new disguise on his shoulders. There was definitely more to find out.

* * *

Shinji had ended up a few good miles down the road, deeper into the heart of this evacuated part of the city. At some point, he had seen the suited girls hovering above, presumably searching for him, but for some reason, they couldn't pin him down, even with those suits of theirs. He couldn't tell why, but took the opportunity to get the hell out of that spot while he could. And so, here he was, wandering down the road.

"Looks like that Kurumi wasn't kidding when she said I'd mostly be on my own..." He sighed, weary and exhausted from the trek he had made all the way from the beginning of the district to the end – all just to attempt and reenter the city unnoticed. It was morning again, and the sun was seriously bearing down on him.

To give a perspective of just how long he'd been travelling, the night he had talked to Kurumi had been a little over two days ago. The day before had been his escape from the sights of the AST, and then, we cut back to today, where he was currently under attack from the rays of the sun.

It seemed like destiny, fate, or whatever you wanted to call it had different plans for him, though, as he saw a lone figure approaching in the distance. He couldn't exactly make out all of the details from his distance, but he could tell that it wasn't Kurumi, though the outline looked eerily similar in colour to what she called her 'Astral Dress'. Therefore – it was a stranger, and possibly, an enemy.

"Hatov." Without hesitation, he immediately raised his hand – and with a bolt of lightning, the spear of light crackled and materialised in his palm, pulsing with a large glare of light as it finished forming fully.

"Stop there." He ordered, firmly holding his spear in his hands.

The stranger was far away from just taking his orders, though.

"We go to battle, Duadel." A clearly feminine voice spoke, as her own weapon formed in her hands, coagulating into the shape of a small sword, almost as if it were made from a liquid almost like blood. Without giving him more time to analyse her weapon, she dashed towards him at blinding speeds.

"Fine, let's do this." He said coldly, eyes turning grey and mechanical as he dashed towards the girl in kind. The battle started.

The two met with a shock-wave, both knocked back from the power of their collision. Shinji grit his teeth and ran forward again, and so did the female, the two meeting with another shock-wave that only pushed them back again. They continued these pointless clashes, to the point where the street had started to crack and cave in at the places where they stood.

The girl smirked, and Shinji was finally able to get a good look at her. She had long, waist-length hair, that went almost in a gradient from red to white, and crimson red eyes. Her more traditional looking outfit, that he recognised clearly as a kimono, was mostly white, but seemed to follow the idea of her hair, with red all around the edges. White stockings that smoothly ran down her legs, and sandals that almost resembled his own.

In her hand was a short blade, something that looked almost like a katana, but shorter.

"Analysing your opponent? Good, but something you should not be doing in the middle of battle!" She chastised, and with a yell, she had already closed half the distance between them, with a gust of wind behind her. She was fast. A lot faster than he was. "Come on, come on, come on! Fight me! I didn't track you down just to be disappointed!" She yelled, as she entered his guard.

For the first time, since he was brought to this world, Shinji was genuinely forced onto the ropes. A rush of slashes was coming at them, and he struggled to block all with only the body of his spear, some almost cutting into his new uniform, and some cutting for his more vulnerable skin, at the neck and head. All he could do was stare her in the eyes while she mercilessly cut at him. There was nothing but pure blood lust in them.

In a desperate move, Shinji twirled his spear in a circle, causing the girl to hop back out of the radius of his attack. In that instant, he allowed the spear to disappear. Keeping the momentum from his spin, he dashed forward, and gave a strong uppercut to her jaw, sending her flying, feet away, Duadel dropping from her hands on the way.

"Sorry. I've heard that usually, beings like us only use our weapons, but I like to fight a little dirty." He said, lowering his hands as he got into a fighting stance. The girl was just laying there on the ground, but he doubted that one punch would just take her out like that. Not with how vicious all of her previous attacks were.

"That's fine..." She spat out, as she struggled to get to her knees, drawing yet another blade. Although this time, it looked much sharper, refined, and much, much longer than the other. "I'll draw Azazel, this once..." She steadied the blade, and grasped it with both hands. "And finish this fight!"

"Right..." Shinji said knowingly, shaking his head. "Somehow, I knew that a fight like this was coming. Since you seem like the 'valiant warrior' type, I'll give you my name. Shinji." He held up his right hand, and in it appeared a mysterious palm sized book, with the words, 'Hara' engraved on its' cover.

"Sakki Kengou." She returned, eyes warily trailing over to the book he had in his hand. "And that…you plan to fight me with a book instead of your spear?" She questioned incredulously, never losing her grip on her sword.

"Oh, this?" He asked rhetorically, tapping the book with his thumb. "Hmm..." He rolled his eyes like he was trying to come up with an explanation, before shrugging. "How about you come over and find out? I'm sure that you're just screaming for a fight, anyways." He answered. And so, with his provocation, Sakki once again closed the distance between them with a devastating slash!

* * *

"All of that...hah...with just a book?"

The two fighters knelt across from each other, both panting heavily. Sakki had bruises and signs of dust all over her and her kimono, while Shinji looked exhausted, but barely sported any wounds except for a few cuts on his skin.

"Well, it's a little bit more than just a book, but I think you've got that figured out by now." He said back, chest heaving up and down as he continued to take in forced breaths.

"Of course I've got it figured out. You thought that swinging that big spear around wouldn't do you that much good, since I could just out-speed you, so you just decided to go with that thing...that book, it isn't a weapon or anything of sorts. No, as soon as you summoned it, your abilities began to start rising, even if it was slowly, and eventually, you started to match me, blow for blow, with just your fists. It raises your natural abilities to a place that they shouldn't be. It's a big boost." She said, steadily making her way to stand straight again.

"Good job." Shinji replied back sarcastically. "I'm not about to tell you all of the cards in my hands, but you have two, as well." He mimicked her movements, pushing up off of his knee. "And you...looks like you're wielding two active weapons, but something was strange...you didn't even touch your _real_ ability in that fight, did you? You just fought me with those swords, and nothing else." He pointed out.

She smirked, and held up the two swords, Duadel and Azazel, both which she had used in the middle of their confrontation for dual wielding. "'Good job'." She mocked. "I only came planning to use Duadel, but you looked like you were getting serious, and I couldn't just get left behind. After all, I'm the strongest when it comes to swordplay. If you didn't use that cheap boost, I would've easily killed you." She spoke with confidence in her voice, confidence that she could finish the fight that she started. But the previous blood-lust in her eyes was not there. Instead, it was replaced by a sort of calm, calculated killer instinct. Her pupils were almost like slits.

"Oh? That's confidence, if I've ever heard it." He took steps towards her, the palm-sized book disappearing into the air. "But, there's a true reason that you're here. The reason we exchanged blows...you wanted something. That's what it felt like. There was something you were trying to confirm." He allowed himself a small smile – something that he didn't remember doing for a long time. "After all, we're both holding back. Otherwise, we wouldn't be able to just stand and talk like this."

Sakki sheathed both of her swords simultaneously. "That's right. I don't want you to misunderstand, though." She spoke, as she lifted her gaze, coldness still present in her gaze. "We're not friends, and neither are we allies. I still very much consider us enemies. But instead – I'd prefer to keep my strongest opponent close to me. Maybe you could call this a deal for my own convenience? After all, your presence...is very similar to mine."

" **..."** Shinji's smile dropped from his face, and so did all warmth on his expression, as he considered her proposition, before speaking after what seemed like ages.

"Fine. That power of yours is pretty useful for any more sticky situations. You can fight your share of enemies, while I fight my share. And, in exchange, if all you want is to keep challenging me to these fights? That sounds fair, but pointless." He muttered, stopping inches in front of her. "Shinji." He reached out his hand, levelling his gaze with her.

"Sakki." She returned, grasping his hand firmly. "You better remember my name. Because I promise, it will be the last you remember. After all, if there will be anyone killing you, it will be me." She stated plainly, looking the monochrome boy in the face. His gaze seemed bored, almost uninterested, despite her threatening words.

"Promising words. I'm sure I can trust you to watch my back, sword maniac." He said, and let go of her hand.

"What did you call me?!" She immediately lost all bravado, pointing a shaky finger at the boy. He raised an eyebrow and repeated his words casually.

"Sword maniac. You carry around two swords, you used them over hidden ability, and you always look like you're ready to kill by slicing people up. So, you're a sword maniac." He explained simply, as he walked off, officially ignoring his new – begrudging - 'partner'.

"My name is not 'sword maniac'! It's Sakki! And you'll call me Sakki unless you want me to cut you in half like an actual sword maniac!" She yelled with barely unrestrained anger, as she hopped up behind the uninterested Shinji.

"Sakki – the sword maniac." He murmured, and then nodded to himself, as if he had had a heavenly revelation while continuing to walk.

"Gh-! I'm going to fight you, just for that! Azazel!"

"I'd rather not."

"You will!"

"No."

"Yes!"

Shinji definitely felt like one of the deals he had made that day was worse than the other. But which one?

* * *

"My, my." A certain dark-haired girl stood up from the roof a building above, dusting off her equally dark dress before turning to stare at the horizon, into the ruined city in the distance. Construction vehicles and workers scrambled about the roads and buildings, presumably making progress on a repair effort scrapped together by the inhabitants of Tengu City after the destruction caused by the spacequake two days before.

"First there was one, and now there are two~" She said melodiously, smiling with absolute delight. "It's nice to have DEM put down for a while." She hummed, skipping merrily to the edge of the building. "While they're still focused on recovering and struggling to find the source of everything, some of the most important pieces have dropped right into my lap." She said, kneeling to look down at the world below.

"Still, for Shido and his friends, this city has become quite the dangerous battlefield." She giggled, and twirled away from the scene unfolding in the far distance. "Then, perhaps it really would be best to devour them both, and get it over with?" She asked to a previously unseen clone, who had been standing behind her, shaking her head with a smile, as she joined in the waltz of the original.

"No…after all, they're _hers_." The clone replied. "And I wouldn't want to draw too much of _her_ attention to myself just yet…" They both stopped, and raised their gaze to watch the two quarrelling 'Spirits', slowly progressing down the road, and smiled.

The two turned to face each other immediately afterwards, as their smiles contorted into a scowl, looks of pure disgust."This burning hatred of mine…the **hatred** I feel when I think of _her_. It's almost overwhelming." The original muttered, eyes narrowing.

"But, patience. I'll be much closer to my goal very, _very_ soon." The clone licked her lips and turned to walk into the shadows the morning sun had cast upon the roof, both disappearing into the darkness.


	5. Magic Inhibitor

**Yo, readers. It's been a while since I last posted, like always. Maybe that'll change sometime in the future? Anyways, this chapter is a little shorter than the others, and doesn't really hold that much important content, I guess...but still, feel free to take a read.**

 **As always, this is an AU that completely reinvents many things, and does not strictly adhere to canon events. No characters or plot points from the light novels, games, or the movie will be used, because I haven't seen any, sans the movie. All characters do not belong to me, minus the Watchers and some possible extras. Keep an open mind while reading, please. If you are just looking for a story in-line with canon, this is not for you.  
**

 **I hope you find this the tiniest bit interesting, and please post any reviews!**

 **PS: Some changes have been made to the final interaction between Sakki and Shinji last chapter, along with the shuffling around of Chapter orders to make them easier to understand. Please check these changes out at your own convenience, if needed!**

* * *

 **Chapter 5**

 **Magic** **Inhibitor**

* * *

Tengu City, even after the large-scale spacequake that had happened only days ago, had a surprisingly active nightlife.

In the heart of the city, it was crowded. Ridiculously so. Even after a major disaster, life still went on for those who were largely unaffected by it. Workers still had to finish up their nightmarish overtime shifts and returned home, citizens were returning from their last minute-shopping trips, students were getting off of part-time jobs and going out with friends. There was always someone different, somewhere different, doing something different.

So it shouldn't have been a shock for a certain pair that not a lot of heads turned, even considering that one was apparently a student wearing a uniform, accompanied by a girl wearing a kimono. It might have been oddly timed, but nobody doubted that there would always be the occasional cosplayer or two.

Shinji and Sakki weaved through the bustling crowd, with Shinji following a few paces behind, with Sakki mainly taking the lead. He caught up to her as they stopped in front of a street-crossing with a red light. Shinji watched the cars pass by with an unreadable expression, but Sakki didn't seem all too phased, even as multitudes of people piled on around them to get their chance at crossing, too.

"So, this is Tengu City..." He spoke, voice barely heard above the thousands of others that surrounded them.

"Yes." Sakki replied curtly. "Tengu City. Home of most of the humans that live near here, and apparently, the place where most of those suited girls come from."

"Suited girls? You mean..." He trailed off again, closing his eyes with visual effort, before opening them. "The AST? Then you know about that group."

This time, she nodded. "I've seen them around on my daily surveillance. Surprisingly, a lot of them are just regular-looking students, when they're not in those suits, that is. A lot of them seem to lack real combat skill, something that annoys me a lot." She spoke with an edge to her voice, causing Shinji to look at her blankly.

"But...there's about one or two that are worth wasting a little bit of my time on. Just for boredom's sake, maybe. Few actually get close enough to me to wield their swords. That's only natural." She conceded, and began walking right on time, with the light turning green.

Shinji remained silent, but quickly moved to follow his guide, again. Despite the both of them being different from the thousands of souls that moved with them, Sakki almost blended in with the humans. The way she moved in all the correct ways, anticipated the lights, and looked so at ease with the stifling noise made her look experienced. It was probably good to assume that she wasn't just experienced with fighting, but was already used to going where she needed to. That wasn't a problem; Shinji was just satisfied with being able to move without another fight.

Well, that was only until Sakki got bored and decided to test her abilities against him. It was funny to think that she was doing all of this just so that she could have a person to fight with around. The thought drew a small, rare, genuine chuckle from Shinji.

Further up the road, the sounds of sirens and heavy vibrations could be sensed, even as the kimono-clad warrior led them in the opposite direction. He remembered them clearly, though. When he had first escaped the city into the abandoned district. Hearing them brought back an unpleasant, in-explainable sort of feeling. A feeling that he couldn't peg.

All of that destruction and chaos back there – all of that was done by his hand. When he had entered this new world, he had brought complete annihilation with him. And yet – he felt absolutely nothing towards the act. Nothing that was as black and white as positive or negative. After all, if he hadn't hesitated in shredding apart the newly identified AST, their youth, their lives in the city, then why should he feel anything for the citizens? In fact, even as he had put that fake smile on his expression, and faced Sakki with 'all he had', he didn't feel bad at all for deceiving her. Something good even came of it – he now had access to the city, its' knowledge, and its' wonders. And if he kept following his guide, maybe even a temporary safe haven.

Adding to that train of thought, wouldn't the AST have done the same? Because he was not 'human', not 'similar', they would have eradicated his existence without a second thought. Neither did it help that his list of crimes extended to destroying countless acres of the cityscape, and endangering countless lives.

But what about him? His mind would've come into existence, only to stop existing the moment it was born. It was kill, or be killed. That was what this new world was like. In that case, there was nothing wrong with thinking the way that he was.

So, why was he making so much excuses for himself, if he didn't care? Did it mean that, deep inside, there was more to it?

…

He didn't know.

"Sorry, coming through!" A young girl wearing the exact uniform pushed through with a multitude of apologies, bumping shoulders with him only momentarily. All he was able to glimpse of her was a flash of red, before she disappeared into the crowd.

He looked up to search for Sakki, the image of the girl already fleeting from his consciousness. A few steps ahead, he spotted her, and caught up, this time matching her pace as he made to stand beside her.

"Exactly where are we going?" He hadn't asked before, because he frankly didn't care much, but for some reason, he just felt like thinking about something else.

"A temporary shelter. I don't like to stay in one place for too long. It's restricting, and there's not much of a challenge in hunkering down in a single spot like some coward. I usually just move wherever my sword and feet take me, but ever since you landed, _they've_ been restless." She said, hands resting on her hips. "I used to have a place that I could safely call a 'home', but ever since a certain event, that's long since gone. Besides, wandering the land suits me much better." Her hands - almost unnoticeable - moved to grip the handle of her katana a little forcefully than was necessary.

Shinji's dull grey eyes didn't exactly show an ounce of visible sympathy or compassion, but he simply nodded at her words, gaze forward. "Then I guess that you won't mind me asking – how exactly do you stay undetected? In a city with this mass of people, I thought you would have at least be seen by someone who knows you, by now." He asked, momentarily looking to the side.

"That's what I thought first. But then I realised that not a lot of people actually cared too much about my presence, moving around from place to place." She replied, grip loosening. "I confirmed it with you. _They_ conceal us from the eyes of the public. As far as these people know, a spacequake is just a natural disaster."

 _Spacequake._ That was what the term was for the explosion of energy he had felt coming off of himself at his arrival. It sounded ominous, but other than that, he had no idea what it actually meant. What he was sure about, though, was that the word, 'disaster', could probably be used to best sum up its' effects. Even with his reasoning, he wasn't just blind to the destruction that had been caused.

"In the end, it's all the same. They're all so...weak." She muttered with disdain, expression hidden by the darkness of the night.

Shinji expected to hear more from the rogue swordsman, but their conversation seemed to trail off after that. As the sounds of the crowd slowly began to filter in around them once more, Shinji couldn't help but feel more than a little bit awkward. Maybe he should try being a little bit more open with his new...ally?

* * *

Sakki had led the pair into a part of the city that was a little bit more quiet, less dense than what he could only assume was the city centre. Small buildings scattered the area around, with neon lights in their glass windows that buzzed, barely audible, in a low hum. The occasional shady-looking figure passed by them, and thanks to their newfound isolation to the crowd – the odd looking pair was drawing a lot more attention from the rare pedestrian or two.

"I don't think that it's really good for stealth if you're going to be wearing something that makes you stand out so much...they don't seem to be considering a kimono-wearing sword-sheathing girl the norm." He bluntly pointed out after another person passed, looking by them.

"And you look like some random young human, walking in a dark side of town in the middle of the night. Think of how suspicious you must look!" She retorted without even looking back.

"Fair enough. So I guess that raises the question – when exactly are we going to get to this temporary shelter of yours? With all this walking, my feet are starting to hurt, along with everything else. I think I need to properly rest more than I actually thought..." His point was reinforced by an involuntary yawn that came afterwards. "Whatever or wherever it is, it's probably better than having to worry about getting ran through by one of those light swords. Or one of yours."

She folded her arms, tone holding a hint of annoyance at his unusual insistence. "Just stay patient, we'll be there any moment now."

Shinji took the hint to be quiet, deciding to quit pushing his luck with the girl in front of him. In his usual fashion of escaping the situation at hand, he turned his eyes to the buildings around them instead, noticing that many of them were aged, and the items that they boasted seemed almost like relics. Even the paved ground below them didn't feel as smooth as where they had arrived, from the centre. The entire area was like a snapshot into the city's past. If not anything else, it was an unsuspecting place to hide.

The entire world in this section of the city, for a moment, felt so...grey.

Sakki stopped in front of a building that looked surprisingly average to Shinji. It was a small-looking apartment, with a simple single door. There were no windows in the front, but he wasn't surprised, considering the area. She approached and unlocked the door, opening it and walking in, leaving a silent Shinji. His eyes widened slightly as he realised the gesture, and quickly got inside, closing the door to the world behind them.

Inside, the place looked just as quaint as it did from the outside. It was unbelievably plain, almost empty. He stared around, finding only a couch, and a now-open lighted room that he assumed was hers. Actually, the entire place was traditional-styled, tatami mats and all. Considering all that, the couch looked out of place. Again, Shinji didn't pause to figure out how these foreign words seemed so natural to his sleep-deprived brain.

"So...this is it?" He asked, taking a few steps in.

"Yes, this is it." Sakki said from somewhere inside the lit up room, the sound of something sliding against the floor audible, before a big pile of bedding was thrown at Shinji. He caught it in a split second, comically so, peeking out from beside the objects obstructing his vision. Sakki was standing there, hands on her hips. "Take this. I'll be waking you tomorrow so that we can fight again. I'm not hearing any excuses about being low on energy after I let you sleep. If you slack off, I can promise you that you will die." She said bluntly, staring at him with an expression that denied refusal, unless he wanted the alternative, death.

"I still don't understand this obsession with fighting me, but I'll just play along." He muttered, as he knelt down to begin placing the bedding on the floor. From the silence behind him, he could tell that she wanted to say something to that, but instead withheld her words, closing the sliding door to her room without another word.

Eventually, he had the bedding set up, and Shinji slid down under the sheets, feeling warmth for the very first time, since he landed down on this world. Something that, at the very least, wasn't the burning feeling of bullets grazing past him, swords slicing close to his skin, or the own uncomfortable heat of his spear.

For a moment, he thought about the events of the past days.

He closed his eyes and let out a sigh, staring up at the ceiling silently. Instead of allowing his thoughts to stray like usual, he silenced even his mind. His feet shuffled idly, and he closed his eyes.

He didn't even notice when he fell asleep.

* * *

"Say, Kotori." Shido looked at his sister, as they walked along the halls of the Fraxinus. "You've been talking about this new invention you wanted to show me, but I don't really get it, to be honest...I'm not really a magic engineer or anything like you or the crew, so why me? Actually, isn't the more important thing those X rank spirits?"

Initially, Kotori only gave a snicker to this, but then sighed as Shido shot her a serious expression. "Fine, fine, I'll explain. Geez, you're such a worrywart! Those unidentifiables are _my_ problem too, you know." She responded, with a roll of her eyes.

"Like you know, Ratatoskr is one of the only two groups in all of Japan that actually takes on the Spirit threat. Except, instead of aiming to eliminate them, we try to 'save' them. That's where you come in, Shido." She began, pointing her lollipop at him, before placing it back in her mouth. "Except, now, we have two outliers that can't be 'saved' through the usual means. They're a lot more dangerous than expected. But still, they haven't done anything wrong, so instead of how we can take them down, the question would be…?"

"How do we save them?" Shido finished, following her train of thought. Kotori smiled in satisfaction.

"That's right. And that's the exact same thing I asked my higher ups." She folded her arms, tongue moving the lolly around her mouth. "So, Reine, Kannazuki, along with the rest of Ratatoskr R&D have been pouring themselves into this new project. We've had to experiment with a lot of stuff, like the manipulation of Magic Theory, and..." She looked to the side, noticing that Shido seemed lost to the explanation now, and sighed. "Right. Forgot that you're not too bright when it comes to anything other than charging in recklessly and saving others." She shook her head, before continuing.

"In any case, we recently made a breakthrough, and I wanted to show you. That's the long and short of things." Kotori folded her arms. "Got it?"

"Uhm...yeah, it's all pretty simple, except for the part where you started going into Magic Theory, I don't know a lot about that." He admitted with a chuckle, and looked forward. "Still, you guys made a breakthrough just to save these new spirits? That's really amazing...I might do a lot of crazy things, but you guys really know your stuff!" Shido looked down at his little sister with a smile. She immediately flushed red and turned away.

"S-Shut up! It's a part of my job – I don't need your praise!" She retorted, almost fuming.

Shido smiled at her reply, and went to look forward. Whatever colour ribbons she was wearing, she was still kind. "Still..." He let out an almost unnoticeable huff, lowering his shoulders a little. Though, considering Kotori was right next to him, it didn't pass by her. He didn't finish his sentence, but she could guess what he would've said next.

'I wish that I could've done something to help.'

"Hmph." Kotori vocalised her displeasure, folding her arms even more tightly. This time, though, there was no flush in her cheeks. 'What a stupid brother.' She thought, closing her eyes momentarily. 'Some people just can't be helped through regular means.' She could tell now that it wasn't just the failure with Kurumi that hung over her brother – but also _her_. Macabre. The mere name made her brows furrow, but she let go of it, to instead focus on the task at hand.

"We're here." She announced, drawing Shido out of his train of thought. He looked up and at the door they now stood in front of curiously. It opened automatically as the commander approached, opening to reveal…

"A basketball court?" Confusion was obvious in Shido's tone, as he stepped inside. What wasn't weird about things was the court itself, though, but who was on it, casually taking shots at the hoop like it was nothing. It was...Mana.

Shido still remembered how Kotori had suddenly announced Mana as being a part of the Fraxinus crew, after her defection from DEM. It came to a shock to everyone in the room, but he was still affected by it the most...a girl who insisted on calling him 'brother', and no matter what – seemed more invested in her sole purpose of killing Kurumi's many clones over and over than even Origami could be in killing Kotori. No, in killing 'Efreet'. He wasn't sure how to take it…

But here she was, moving around and playing ball by herself, her long blue ponytail swaying from her own movement, as she hopped up and took a shot, causing the squeaking of sneakers to ring around the room. Her movements were good – great, actually. She didn't have any wasted steps, and her vertical jump was so crazy, he'd have a hard time saying she looked human with how she was moving around so fluidly. And this wasn't even with her suit on!

The ball easily swished through the net and Mana grinned. "Yeah, 3 pointer!" She exclaimed, and wiped a bead of sweat from her forehead, turning around to face the exit. Her eyes widened in surprise, and she immediately lost her confident grin. "O-Oh! Big brother, and Kotori. Hey!" She greeted with a smile on her face, and approached the two.

"Hey, Mana. Looks like you're still functioning at max capacity!" Kotori grinned, hands placed on her hips. Shido smiled and gave a small wave.

"Hey." Shido gave a smaller greeting, but his smile more than conveyed his happiness at the meeting.

Mana nodded at Kotori's words, and looked at the hoop. "Yeah. I don't really have to worry about a physical decline, considering they stopped my ageing...but the magic..." She let out a sigh, expression falling to look suddenly pensive. Kotori's eyes twitched ever so subtly, along with her brows.

"Yeah. I know." She replied vaguely. Considering that the two seemed to be in on some sort of information that he didn't know about, Shido couldn't really enter into the conversation. Just watch as the previously friendly atmosphere turned into a much more depressing one.

"Uh...what are we talking about? I thought only Spirits and those suits that the AST and those other Wizards wear use magic. And Mana doesn't just walk around with a suit on, so why would she be worrying about that?" He probed, staring pointedly at his sister. Kotori sighed and shook her head, removing the lollipop from her mouth.

"Shido, the reason we're visiting Mana isn't just to see her – it's because she's the first person that we're using this device on. A person that can't be sealed – a perfectly normal human...however, the fact that she has...magic within her doesn't change." Kotori spoke, her eyes glued to the floor. Shido looked even more lost for a moment, before his eyes filled with disbelief and shock.

"She...Mana has magic inside of her?! That's...that's…!" He couldn't come up with words that put his feelings into speaking. All he could do was let his nonplussed gaze slowly turn to meet Mana's. She returned a nervous smile, before looking away.

"That's...something that should not be naturally possible. _Naturally possibl_ e, that is." Kotori placed the lollipop back into her mouth, folding her arms and closing her eyes. "Has the thought ever crossed your mind? Even if they were only a bunch of clones, it shouldn't be possible for even the most skilled Wizard to continually kill Kurumi Tokisaki over and over, without ever sustaining any injuries? After experiencing her power firsthand, you have to admit, that person would have to be _superhuman._ You had to have thought that at least once when you met Mana, Shido."

After not hearing any denial, she continued.

"Well, it's no coincidence that she could do all of that. After all, Mana's basically pumped full of the same stuff AST suits run on. Magic." She finished explaining, opening her eyes to look right up at Shido. Despite the reveal, he only seemed confused, as he didn't quite know what it meant. Mana herself had already resigned from shooting hoops, and instead, chose to break her own serious-seeming expression with a smile.

"But that's not what you came here to talk about, right? It's about those – what did you call them? X class spirits – and how to seal them, isn't it?" Mana questioned, turning her gaze to Kotori. This caught Shido's attention as well, She nodded, and walked over to Mana.

"What I wanted to talk about is this." Kotori then proceeded to take Mana's left hand into hers and turn it over, revealing her wrist. She lightly tapped twice where the veins should be, a dim blue glow appeared, causing Mana to momentarily wince. "This device embedded in Mana's skin is the key to sealing those Spirits." Kotori spoke, eyes completely focused on the single spot.

"Sealing those Spirits! You mean, they actually can be sealed?" Shido asked, staring at the spot incredulously. Kotori let go, and simply nodded.

"That's right. With a little bit of technological help, and some convincing, like always, even those spirits shouldn't be a problem. Their magical power might've been a problem for you to bottle up, along with their emotional instability, both which are even greater than the one regular Spirits, or possibly even Inverse Spirits possess. But with this machine, we can regulate their magic energy while also leaving their own feelings up to them. It's expensive to produce, but, considering the possible damage they can cause, it's worth it." Kotori explained, letting go of Mana's hand. The blue-haired girl frowned and rubbed the spot tenderly.

"That's great! I mean, it is kind of sad that we have to treat them this way, but...if they can be helped just like the others, that would be the best outcome, right? So, that's great!" Shido smiled happily, eyes practically shining. Kotori was taken aback for a moment with his sudden exclamation, a tint of red on her cheeks, but coughed, regaining her composure.

"R-Right! It's only natural that Ratatoskr would carry out its' usual mission, regardless of circumstance! You won't be the one doing the work this time, but I'll let Reine explain all that to you. She should be in the control room." Kotori explained proudly, hands at her sides.

"Alright, that sounds good to me! I'm just happy to help any way I can!" Shido replied, before turning to look at Mana. She returned his gaze with a nervous smile, and all Shido said before departing was, "We'll definitely talk later, alright? I still need to know...just who you are." He said, and departed through the door.

Mana chuckled and turned around from Kotori, looking to the hoops again. "Boy, brother really is a handful, isn't he? Jumping in headfirst to a plan that he doesn't even know that much about. He didn't even ask about what the magic in my system meant, or even why the chip was in _me_ instead of a Spirit. He even said he wanted to talk to me, even if he doesn't know a thing about me." She murmured, taking a shot with one of the many basketballs spread around the floor.

"Tell me about it." Kotori closed her eyes, with a small smile. "But aren't you the same? That was a pretty convenient change in conversation you pulled. Just when I was about to explain the side-effects of your condition." She spoke, causing Mana to pause for only a second, while her shot passed right through the centre – perfectly through the hoop.

"Sometimes, you just don't want to burden the people you love." Mana said simply, before picking up another ball and taking another throw, silently returning to her routine.

"The people who you love, huh?" Kotori echoed her thoughts, and let out a deep sigh, staring up at the ceiling.

'Sealing' the X-Classes would be a job on its' own, but she had a feeling that even with all the chaos they had stirred up in Tengu City, there was a hell of a lot more to come.


End file.
